Motivation of library personnel in the Engineering College Libraries in Bhubaneswar, Orissa (India)

Transcription

1 Bulu Maharana* Solma Murmu** Sabitri Majhi*** Indian Journal of Library and Information Science 5 Motivation of library personnel in the Engineering College Libraries in Bhubaneswar, Orissa (India) ABSTRACT For successful functioning and performance of manifold duties, libraries require personnel with a high degree of technical skill, intelligence, imagination, initiative, efficiency and understanding. They are, therefore, to be not only professionally qualified, competent and efficient but also to be lively, active, contended and well motivated towards their job has become essential. The present study is carried out to find out the level of work motivation among the library professional working in 18 Engineering colleges libraries of Orissa. The result of the questionnaire survey among 60 s demonstrates positively motivated library personnel in the libraries. Keywords: Personnel management; Work motivation; Job satisfaction; Engineering libraries. INTRODUCTION A library is the dominant agency of dissemination of knowledge. The libraries play a constructive role in the fulfillment of people s aspirations and programmes for education, research and development (R & D) and industrialization. For successful functioning and performance of its manifold duties, libraries require personnel with a high degree of technical skill, intelligence, imagination, initiative, efficiency and understanding. They are, therefore, to be not only professionally qualified, competent and efficient but also to be lively, active, contended and well satisfied with their job has become essential. An effective organization will make sure that there is a spirit of cooperation and sense of Author s Affilation: *Sr. Lecturer, **Former M.Phil Student, ***Lecturer, P. G. Department of Library & Information Science, Sambalpur University, Jyoti Vihar (Orissa). Reprint s request: Dr. Bulu Maharana, Sr. Lecturer, P. G. Department of Library & Information Science, Sambalpur University, Jyoti Vihar (Orissa). (Received on , accepted on ) commitment and satisfaction within the sphere of its influence. In order to make employees satisfied and committed to their jobs in engineering college libraries, there is a need for strong and effective motivation at the various levels, departments, and sections of the library. The present study is carried out to find out the level of work motivation among the library professional working in Engineering colleges libraries of Orissa. AIMS AND OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY The present study has following aims and objectives as enumerated below: To explore the present state of professional manpower in the EC libraries. To find out the level of job motivation among the library personnel in EC colleges To find out the working conditions of library personnel in engineering college libraries. To find out various factors affecting the work motivation of the library personnel. Volume Red Flower 6 Number Publication 1, January-April Pvt. Ltd. 2012

2 6 Bulu Maharana, Solma Murmu, Sabitri Majhi METHODOLOGY The present study is a questionnaire based survey in which a structured questionnaire was used as the instrument for collection of data from the s. The questionnaire including questions seeking personal data, job profile and work motivation was prepared and was distributed among 60 Library professionals of 18 Engineering colleges. After constant personal persuasion by the investigator, 45 (75) the filled questionnaires collected and analysed taking different variables into account. The following Engineering Colleges of Bhubaneswar City have been taken under the purview of the study: 1. Central Institute of Plastic Engineering & Technology (CIPET) 2. College of Engineering & Technology (CET) 3. College of Engineering, (CEB) 4. CV Raman College of Engineering (CVRCE) 5. Eastern Academy of Science and Technology (EAST) 6. Gandhi Engineering College (GEC) 7. Gandhi Institute for Technology (GIT) 8. Gandhi Institute of Technological Advancement (GITA) 9. Institute of Technical Education & Research (ITER) 10. Kalinga Institute of Industrial Technology.(KIIT) 11. Kaustav Institute of Self Domain (KISD) 12. Konark Institute of Science and Technology. (KIST) 13. Krupajala Engineering college (KEC) 14. Mahavir Institute of Engineering and Technology (MIET) 15. NM Institute of Engineering and Technology (NMIET) 16. Orissa Engineering College (OEC) 17. Silicon Institute of Technology (SIT) 18. Trident Academy of Technology. (TAT) Review of Literature Rowley (1996) identified some of the issues that affect the motivation of staff in libraries. Environmental factors that had an impact on motivation includes: approaches to financial rewards, culture and the diversity of staff experience and roles. Possible strategies for motivation include developmental strategies such as appraisal, managing dissatisfies and financial and social rewards. Mark Shield (1998) examined the relationship between motivation and methods of job and work design. The main factors influencing motivation identified in the study included environmental factors, such as technological innovation and economic recession, the nature of the higher education system and the user community. Mallaiah T.Y (2008) conducted a study of the job environment of Library professionals in University Libraries in Karnataka in which he found a positive correlation between job motivation and varieties of factors such as job rotation, promotion policies, rewards system, leadership qualities and superior and subordinate relations in the organization Job Motivation It is a commonly held belief that having wellmotivated staff is a significant factor in providing an effective library and information service. However, the task of ensuring a high level of staff motivation requires from library managers a range of managerial, sociological and psychological skills for which they have had little or no training at all. The nature of much library work involves a great deal of administrative repetition, technology is ever increasing and changes to the working lives of library staff are frequent. Gerald Cole has offered a useful definition of motivation: Motivation is the term used to describe those processes, both instinctive Indian Journal of Library and Information Science

3 Motivation of library personnel in the Engineering College Libraries in Bhubaneswar, Orissa (India) 7 and rational, by which people seek to satisfy their basic drives, perceived needs and personal goals, which trigger human behavior (Cole, 1996, p. 28). The motivation is one of the most important factors determining organizational efficiency. In order to motivate worker must determine the motives or needs of the workers and provide an environment in which appropriate incentives are available for the satisfaction of their needs. If the management is successful in doing so, it will also be successful in increasing the willingness of the workers to work. This will be better utilization of resources and abilities and capabilities of the workers. Data Analysis and Discussion While analyzing the human resources parameters, the gender of the staff is one the key financial factor. The library personnel working in the libraries include both male and female employees. Table 1. Gender wise distribution of s Gender Response Percentage distribution Male Female Total The above table shows that, 29(64.44) of the s are male library professionals while 16(35.56) of the s are female library professionals. It is clear form the table that the ratio of male and female library professionals is about 2:1. Age Wise Distribution of Library Staff The age of any professional has an impact on his/her performance, enthusiasm level of motivation and productivity. In order to ascertain the age of the library staff, the investigator has divided the professional staff of the EC libraries into five groups. The data as obtained against this is depicted in the Table 3. Table 2. Age wise distribution of s Age (Years) Respondents Percentage Below 25 years years years years More than 60 years Total From the above table it was found that maximum numbers of staff in EC libraries, i.e 34 (75.56) belongs years of age group. However, 7(15.55) belongs to the age group of only years. 3(6.66) staff are less than 25 years of age group and. It is quite interesting to note that the EC libraries in Orissa are equipped with young professionals who are characterized dynamic, creative, labourious and positively motivated attitude towards their work.

4 8 Bulu Maharana, Solma Murmu, Sabitri Majhi Figure 1. Age wise distribution of s Age wise distribution of s Below 25 years years years years More than 60 Work Experience of Library Staff There are different categories of the staff having different lengths of work experience in libraries. The investigator has categorized the s into 5 groups basing on their length of experience. Table 3. Work experience of the staff of EC libraries Work Experience of Percentage s 0 5years years years years More than 20 years Total From the above table the investigator found that, the staff of EC libraries are moderately experienced. Out of 45 librarian staff 20 (44.45) have 5-10 years of experience. Figure 2. Work experience of the staff of EC libraries Work experience of library staff 0 5 years 5 10 years years years More than 20 years Payment of library staff In order to ascertain the payment of library staff, the s were asked to indicate three different variables and also asked to indicate three different categories such as, true, not sure and untrue. The resultant data has been reflected below in the table-15 Indian Journal of Library and Information Science

5 Motivation of library personnel in the Engineering College Libraries in Bhubaneswar, Orissa (India) 9 Table 4. Payment of library staff Types of payment My salary is satisfactory in relation to work Iearnthesame as or more than other people in similar job Salary increase are decided on a fair manner True Not sure Untrue The above table indicates that, 40 s are satisfied with the salary and 53 s feel that salary increases are decided on a fair manner in their institutions. grade/pay both on the level of their merit and seniority. Performance appraisal plays significant role. Productivity leads towards organizational effectiveness. The resultant data that are depicted in table below. Promotion of Library staff Normally the employees of any organization are promoted to the next higher Table 5. Promotion of Library staff Options True Not sure Untrue responden t Everyone has an equal chance to be promoted Staff are promoted in afareand honest way The above table clearly indicates that 34(75.55) s indicated it is true that the staffs of EC libraries are promoted in a fair and honest way. However 30(66.66) s indicated that each staff has an equal chance to be promoted. The resultant data are graphically shown below figure-18.

6 10 Bulu Maharana, Solma Murmu, Sabitri Majhi Figure 3. Promotion of Library staff Promotion library staff Everyone has an equal chance to be promoted Staff are promoted in a fare and honest way Recognition of Library Staff In order to ascertain the recognition to library staff, the investigator has asked the to indicate two options. The resultant data has been reflected below in table-17. Table 6. Recognition of Library Staff Recognition True Not sure Untrue Iampraised regularly for my work. Ireceive constructive criticism about my work I get credit for that what I do In the above table it is clearly shows that, 34(84.44) s indicated it is true that they are praised regularly for their work. 32(71.11) s indicate that they receive constructive criticism about their work. Similarly, 31(68.88) s indicate that they get credit for what they do. The data of this table gives very positive sign of appreciation as an inducement for the motivation of the staff in present in EC libraries. Indian Journal of Library and Information Science

7 Motivation of library personnel in the Engineering College Libraries in Bhubaneswar, Orissa (India) 11 Figure 5. Recognition of Library Staff Recognisation of library staff I am praised regularly for my work I receive constructive criticism about my work I get credit for that what I do Work content of the present job In order to ascertain the work content of the present job of the library staff, the investigator has asked the s whether the follows work content is present in their respective job. For each such work content, they have to indicate true, (if it s present), untrue (if it is not present) and not sure (if the is not about this).the resultant data has been reflected below in the table 14. The above table indicate that 38(84.44) s opined that in contents of their work is highly responsible in nature. Similarly 37(82.22)of the s feel their job is of value to their department and 35(77.77)are of the opinion that their job consist of variety of work. Another important finding for the show in the table that 33(37.11) s indicate they are allowed to take part in decision making. Suggestion by the Investigator After a vivid and careful study of the findings of the survey and a depth analysis the literature pertaining to the work motivation, job satisfaction and organizational commitment the investigator put forth the following suggestions. i. Every library must satisfy the basis needs like salary, job security, status of the job, etc. In this context Maslow s theory states various levels needs i.e. physiological needs, needs for safety or security, social needs, etc. Similarly, Herzberg s extrinsic factors i.e. management policy working condition, fringe benefits security to staff etc, may be implemented in the right way. ii. Salary is the prime motivator for the staff of any job. The present survey found that most of the library staff not happy with their present salary structure in the EC libraries. There should be a proportional increase in their salary at par with employees of other public sector and private sector libraries. The scale of pay as prescribed by the Sixth Pay Commission in India should be implemented for the library staff in the engineering colleges. iii. The top level library staff of the EC libraries, Librarians, Deputy Librarians, and Assistant Librarians should be given the equal status and extended facilities as the teaching staff of these colleges. iv. The services of the library staff should be treated as services of academic nature and consider them as the people rendering most essential services in these institutions. CONCLUSION The strength of any organization is essentially dependent upon its human

8 12 Bulu Maharana, Solma Murmu, Sabitri Majhi Table 7. Work content of the present job Types at work content True Not sure Untrue Involves a feeling at self esteem Consist of variety at work The amount of work is easy to handle Contents of work is highly responsible Feeling of prestige of job out side the institution Allowed to decide the methods for doing the work Circulation (issue/return of books Opportunity to take part when decisions are made The work is of value to my department Have a certain degree of authority of my work Feeling of security resources. The library system is no exception, lies in the accumulated wisdom and knowledge of its staff. The delegation of responsibilities throughout a library service not only builds self reliance and encourages experimentation, but also helps in the formation of new ideas and methods. The staff being the focal point of the library system should be made up of brilliant minds with missionary zeal, administrative ability and technical skill so that they can perform with distinction the increasingly complex jobs entrusted to them. All that the library staff needs to derive job satisfaction is a set of incentives that it would attract the right type of persons to the profession. Indian Journal of Library and Information Science

9 Motivation of library personnel in the Engineering College Libraries in Bhubaneswar, Orissa (India) 13 Figure 6. Work content of the present job Work content of the present job Involves a feeling at self esteem The amount of work is easy to Feeling of prestige of job out side Circulation (issue/return of books The work is of value to my Feeling of security References 1. Mallaiah TY. Job and job environment of libraries professionals in university libraries in Karnataka: A survey. Information studies 2008; 14: Maslow AH. Motivation and Personality, 2 nd edn. London; Harper and Row, Rowely, Jennifer. Motivation of staff in libraries. Library Management 1996; 17: Shields, Mark. Work and motivation in Academic libraries. Library management 1998; 9(2): Cole GA. Management theory and practice, 5 th edn. London; Letts Educational, 1996.